F 369 

.U58 

1912 

Copy 1 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

GENERAL LAND OFFICE 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



OP 



"LOUISIANA" 
AND THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 



BY 



FRANK BOND 

Chief Clerk General Land Office 



WITH A STATEMENT OF OTHER 
ACQUISITIONS 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1912 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

US, GENERAL LAND OFFICE 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



OF 



"LOUISIANA" 
AND THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 



BY 



' FRANK BOND 

Chief Clerk General Land Office 



WITH A STATEMENT OF OTHER 
ACQUISITIONS 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1912 



5^ D3 






This publication may be purcliased from the Superintendent of 
Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C, for 
10 cents. 

2 









LOUISIANA PURCHASE PROGRESS MAPS OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 



INTRODirCTION. 

A series of five maps of the United States showing the original Lou- 
isiana and the changes in its boundary during the 137 years between 
1682, the date of La Salle's discovery, and 1819, the date of the 
purchase of Florida, formed an interesting part of the exliibit of the 
General Land Office at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition held at 
St. Louis, Mo., in 1904. Difi'erences of opinion have prevailed as to 
the extent of Louisiana as purchased from France. It is believed 
that these are due, first, to a misconception of the scope of La Salle's 
discovery and proclamation, and, second, to a misunderstanding of 
the real significance of the political acts of the United States, between 
1803 and 1819, affecting that part of La Salle's Louisiana wliich 
extended along the Gulf coast east of the Mississippi River. It is 
submitted, as to the former, that the "Louisiana Purchase" of 1803 
did not include territory beyond the limits of the original Louisiana, 
and, as to the latter, that all Spanish doubts as to ownership were 
resolved and permanently settled by the political acts of the United 
States following the purchase from France, but antedating the 
purchase of Florida from Spain. It is believed, also, that a true 
picture of the extent and location of La Salle's Louisiana is shown upon 
map No. 1. This picture greatly assists one to understand the 
phrase "the whole of Louisiana" which was used in subsequent 
treaties of cession. 

In the brief discussion of each map which follows no effort has 
been made to harmonize the conflicting views held and heretofore 
published by numerous writers upon the subject of Louisiana or the 
"Louisiana Purchase." These views are as diverse as their author- 
ship is numerous. This is not surprising when it is understood that 
the common effort has been aimed at solving the questions of terri- 
torial limits of Louisiana, as this province passed from one State to 
another, without first attempting to fix the original limits of the 
territory thus transferred. To this fact, probably, more than any 
other, may the failure to reach a common conclusion be attributed. 

43005°— 12 3 



4 LOUISIANA PURCHASE PKOGEESS MAPS. 

TERRITORY OF LOUISIANA, 1682-1762 (MAP NO. 1). 

The greater colored area shown upon this map is based upon the 
discoveries of La Salle and his proclamation made at the mouth of the 
Mississippi River on April 9, 1682. This proclamation was made in 
the presence of the entire party, under arms, who chanted the Te 
Deum, the Exaudiat, and the Domine salvum fac Regem. After a 
salute of fii-earms and cries of ''Vive le Roi," La Salle erected a col- 
umn, and while standing near it said in a loud voice : 

In the name of the most high, mighty, invincible, and victorious prince, Louis the 
Great, by the grace of God, King of France and of Navarre, fourteenth of that name, 
this ninth day of April, one thousand six hundred and eighty-two, I, in virtue of the 
commission of His Majesty which I hold in my hand, and which may be seen by all 
whom it may concern, have taken, and do now take, in the name of His Majesty and 
of his successors to the crown, possession of this country of Louisiana, the seas, harbors, 
ports, bays, adjacent straits, and all the nations, people, provinces, cities, towns, 
villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams, and rivers comprised in the extent of said 
Louisiana, from the mouth of the great river St. Louis on the eastern side, otherwise 
called Ohio, Aligin, Sipore, or Chukagona, and this with the consent of the Chaonanons, 
Chickachas, and other people dwelling therein, with whom we have made alliance; 
as also along the river Colbert, or Mississippii, and rivers which discharge themselves 
therein, from its source, beyond the country of the Kious or Nadoucessions, and this 
with their consent, and with the consent of the Motantes, Illinois, Mesiganeas, Natches, 
Koroas, which are the most considerable nations dwelling therein, with whom also we 
have made alliance, either by ourselves or by others in our behalf, as far as its mouth 
by the sea, or Gulf of Mexico, about the twenty-seventh degree of the elevation of the 
North Pole and also to the mouth of the river of Palms; upon the assiu-ance which we 
have received from all these nations that we are the first Europeans who have descended 
or ascended the said river Colbert; hereby protesting against all who may in futiu-e 
undertake to invade any or all of these countries, people, or lands, above described, to 
the prejudice of the rights of His Majesty, acquired by the consent of the nations herein 
named. Of which, and all that can be needed, I hereby take to witness those who 
hear me and demand an act of the notary as required by law.' 

Title to French territory in the Mississippi Valley and along the 
Gulf of Mexico was based upon this voyage and proclamation of 
La Salle. These acts of La Salle were, in fact, the foundation of 
French ownership, and have been so considered by all nations since 
1682. The Louisiana thus claimed embraced two areas of contigu- 
ous territory — first, the territory drained by the Mississippi River, 
with all of its tributaries, and second, the territory between the 
Mississippi River and the River Palms. The wording of the proc- 
lamation is simple and direct, and its meaning seems incapable of 
distortion or of being misunderstood. It appears evident that La 
Salle had no information of territory beyond the sources of the jVlis- 

1 This translation of La Salle's proclamation is taken from Spark's Life of La Salle, published at Boston, 
Mass., 1844. Francis Parkman's translation of the proclamation, in his "Discovery of the Great West," 
1869 (Boston: Little, Brown & Co.), agrees with the above, except that he omitted the names of the treaty- 
tribes, but refers to such omissions in a footnote, pp. 282, 283, and says: " A copy of the original of the Proces 
Verbal (the proclamation) is before me. It bears the name of Jacques de la Metairie, notary of Frontenac, 
who was one of the party." Translations, in whole or in part, of the proclamation of La Salle, by numerous 
other authors have been examined by the writer, but in no essential particular did any of these transla- 
tions differ from those of Sparks or Parkman quoted or referred to above. 



LOUISIANA PURCHASE PROGEESS MAPS. 5 

sissippi River and it tributaries to the west, or, if he knew of such 
territory, he purposely excluded any claim to it for France. The 
western boundary of the original Louisiana is therefore traced along 
the summit of the watershed which defines the drainage basin of the 
Mississippi in that region, viz, around the headwaters both of the 
Red River and the Arkansas with their tributaries, and the ^yiissoiu-i 
River with all of its great tributaries from the west and southwest to 
the present northern United States boundary. 

In the effort made to locate the w^estern boundary of La Salle's 
Louisiana many untenable claims have been put forth by geographers. 
In one of those claims the province was carried far bej^ond the drainage 
basin of the j\Iississippi River ; in fact, across the Rocky Mountains 
to the Pacific coast in the Northwest. In another, it is assumed that 
because France at one time claimed the Gulf coast to St. Bernard 
(now Matagorda) Bay, by reason of La Salle's later discoveries, this 
territory should be added to the original Louisiana. A third, while 
rejecting the Pacific coast extension, selected the Rio Grande as the 
southwestern boundary, but, lacking in corn-age of conviction, pub- 
lished maps restricting the limits on the west by the Spanish- American 
compromise line of 1819. The great majority of geographers now 
reject the Pacific coast extension, but there remains a disposition to 
include the Rio Grande country. A careful study of available his- 
torical data reveals claims of France at one time extending only to the 
divide between the Colorado River and the Rio Grande at another 
time to the Rio Grande itself and mth spiritual jurisdiction to the 
Pacific coast. In the negotiations with France for the purchase of 
Louisiana, Napoleon, Talleyrand, and Marbois admitted great 
obscurity as to boundaries and declared their inability to throw any 
light upon the subject. The negotiations incident to the treaty of 
1819 and the maps showing the claims of the United States and Spain 
at the time seem to show that, for diplomatic reasons probably, the 
United States claimed the territory to the Rio Grande. Spain 
declared this claim preposterous and fixed the equally absm'd ninety- 
third degree of longitude as her eastern and our western limit. While 
the compromise line was not agreed to as fixing the western limits of 
the Louisiana piu-chase from France by the United States, but rather 
as definitely establishing a boundary between Spanish and American 
territory west of the Mississippi River, it is perhaps significant that 
in its beginning east of the Texas territory in ciuestion, and in its 
course north^yesterly to the forty-second parallel, this boundary 
approximated the location of the true Louisiana boundary of La Salle. 
It is believed the claim for the Rio Grande limit is untenable, for the 
several reasons that the southern Texas country was a later discovery, 
and the reasons offered for its union with Louisiana are unconvincing 
and insufficient; its area was indefinite and its boundaries unknown; 



6 LOUISIANA PUECHASE PROGEESS MAPS. 

it was never made a part of La Salle's Louisiana; doubt as to Amer- 
ican title was strong enough to insure a ready acceptance of the con- 
tention of Spain as to her ownership of this portion of the Gulf coast 
in 1819, and this acceptance was in marked contrast to the vigorous 
policy pm'sued in the Perdido River boundary contention, where 
American ownership by virtue of the ''purchase" was declared and 
maintained by the Government of the United States. On the other 
hand, there is room for but one interpretation of the limits of 
"Louisiana" as proclaimed by La Salle. It is the line defining the 
drainage basin of the Mississippi River on the west, and this line is 
therefore adopted as the "Louisiana Purchase" boundary through the 
present State of Texas. No available fact warrants the acceptance of 
the Spanish- American boundary of 1819, established 16 years after the 
purchase of Louisiana, as the boundary of this territory. 

It has been held that the Province of Louisiana as proclaimed 
by La Salle should be enlarged on the north by the addition of the 
territory south of the forty-ninth parallel and west of the head- 
waters of the Mississippi River; that is to say, by the drainage basin 
of the Red River of the North. It is certain that tliis territory was 
not in La Salle's Louisiana, and it is even doubtful that it ever really 
belonged to France. It is universally conceded that the powers 
signatory to the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, in the behef that the 
headwaters of the Mississippi River were north of the forty-ninth 
parallel, intended to confirm France in the possession, not of territory 
beyond the Mississippi drainage, but of Mississippi Valley territory 
which was proclaimed "Louisiana" by La Salle 31 years before. 
But French ownership, even if conceded, by virtue of the treaty of 
Utrecht, would be unimportant, for such concession would in no 
degree support the contention that the Red River Basin formed a 
part of Louisiana. All of the French territory to the north of La 
Salle's Louisiana, of whatever extent east or west of the Great Lakes, 
was transferred to Great Britain in 1763, and no French claim to any 
part of it has appeared since that time. 

The origin of American title to the district north and west of 
the headwaters of the Mississippi River and south of the forty-ninth 
parallel may be found in the treaties between the United States and 
Great Britain of 1783 and 1817, the former defining territorial limits 
at the close of the Revolutionary War, and the latter fixing the forty- 
ninth parallel as the north boundary of the United States between 
the Lake of the Woods and the Rocky Mountains. France having 
parted with the district affected by these treaties long prior to their 
negotiation by the powers interested, was wholly indifferent to the 
transfers of the territory made thereby. The drainage basin of 
the Red River of the North is therefore excluded from the territory 
of Louisiana purchased from France in 1803. 



LOUISIANA PURCHASE PEOGRESS MAPS. 7 

Referring to the extension of the south boundary of the original 
Louisiana territory, as sho\m on the map, appeal is again had to the 
proclamation of La Salle, who said, "And also to the mouth of the 
river Palms." This river was located with some difficulty. The 
first mention of it was found in a large volume belonging to the 
records of the Divisions of Private Lands, etc.. General Land Office, 
entitled "A Complete Historical, Chronological, and Geographical 
American Atlas, etc., pubhshed by Carey and Lea, Philadelphia, 
1822." In the liistorical data descriptive of Florida was found the 
record of a grant in 1526 to Pamphilo de Narvaez from Charles the 
Fifth, ''of all the lands from Cape Florida to the river Palmos in the 
Gulf of Mexico." This river appears upon the map of Florida in 
the atlas, but it is not named. Cape Florida is shown upon all 
modern maps, as well as ancient publications, but appeal to maps 
published early in the last century" was necessary to locate Palm 
River. It emptied into Palm Sound, now called Sarasota Bay, and 
the southern extremity of Palm Island, which was also shown oii 
the ancient maps, is opposite the mouth of the river. This island 
is now called Sarasota Key. This grant of land by Spain, 156 years 
before La SaUe's voyage down the Mississippi, waspecuhar in that 
its hmits were defined in specific terms. It is here noted merely as 
offering a reasonable suggestion for the action of La SaUe in choosing 
Pahn River as the eastern limit of Louisiana on the Gulf coast. 
The fact of liis choice is unquestioned. 

Co mm ercial rights over this original Louisiana, as far as the 
lUinois, for a period of 10 years, were granted by Louis XIV to 
Antoine de Crozat, September 14, 1712, and the territory itself was 
ceded to Spain by treaty of November 3, 1762, the language of the 
treaty being, "the whole country known under the name of Louisana, 
together wdth New Orleans and the island on which that city stands." 
This was the first transfer relating to the territory of Louisiana. 

TERRITORY OF LOUISIANA, 1762-1800 (MAP NO. 2.) 

The great but partially temporary shrinkage in area of the ter- 
ritory of Louisiana, as shown b}- map No. 2, was caused, not by any 
changes in description of the territory ceded to Spam by treaty of 
November 3, 1762, but by the failure of France to defiver to Spain 
aU of the territory described in that treaty, and was also due to the 
cession to Great Britain, by Spain in 1763j of aU of her territory, 
undescribed as to boundaries, south of latitude 31° and east of the 
Mississippi River. 

Four months after the cession by France to Spain of "the whole 
territory known under the name of Louisiana," the representatives 
of France and Spain and of Great Britain and Portugal met at Paris 
and entered into a treaty apparently intended to fix more definitely 



8 louisia:n^a pukchase peogeess maps.' 

tlie boundaries of their respective possessions in North America. 
The attitude of Spain during these negotiations was inexpHcable. 
At this time she was one of the greatest of the powers, and it would 
be idle to assume that her diplomats were unaware of the claim of 
France during the previous 80 years to that part of Louisiana 
which lay east of the Mississippi Eiver, especially when the commercial 
grant of Louis XIV to Crozat mth its transfer to the Mississippi 
Co., 28 and 32 years before, not only definitely specified this territory, 
but also had become a matter of wide-spread knowledge through 
the tremendous financial crisis and panic wliich followed the opera- 
tions of the later grantee. It can only be assumed that Spanish 
reasons of state or the exigencies of diplomacy permitted France 
to cede to Great Britain the territory east of the Mississippi and north 
of latitude 31°, which four months before she had plainly ceded to 
Spain. By this same treaty of February 10, 1763, Spain also ceded 
to Great Britain all of her territory east of the Mississippi River and 
south of latitude 31°, so that when the actual deHvery of Louisiana 
by France to Spain occurred on April 21, 1764, the territorial bounda- 
ries were as sho\\ai on this map. Spain's title to all of the territory 
south of latitude 31° at tliis time was undoubtedly good; for to her 
undisputed title to that part of Florida which was obtained through 
discovery and colonization was added the strip of original Louisiana 
territory between the Mississippi River and the river Palms, obtained 
by the treaty of November 3, 1762. This tract is left uncolored 
upon the map, the same as the northern portions of the ahenated 
Louisiana territory. 

TERRITORY OF LOUISIANA, 1800-1803 (MAP No. 3.) 

As indicated upon Map No. 3, the boundaries of the territory of 
Louisiana west of the Mssissippi River sufi"ered no changes between 
April 21, 1764, the date of delivery to Spain, and 1800, when the 
retrocession from Spain to France by the secret treaty of San Ilde- 
fonso occurred. Attention is directed to the colored area of the 
map over that part of the original Louisiana as proclaimed by La 
Salle, which lies south of latitude 31° and east of the Mississippi 
River. Twenty years after the treaty of Paris of February 10, 1763, 
in the settlement of boundaries at the close of the Revolutionary 
War, the LTnited States took over from Great Britain all that part 
of the original Louisiana ceded to the latter by France in 1763, viz, 
the territory of Louisiana east of the Mississippi River and north 
of latitude 31° N. At this time also, September 3, 1783, owing to 
Spanish claims and aggression. Great Britain ceded back to Spain, 
without boundary delimitations, the territory south of latitude 31° 
and east of the Mississippi River, which the former had received, also 



LOUISIANA PURCHASE PROGRESS MAPS. 9 

without boundary delimitations, through the definitive treaty of 
1763. It should be remembered here that that part of this territory 
shaded in agreement with the rest of the area called "Louisiana" 
formed a part of the original territory of Louisiana proclaimed by 
La Salle and ceded by treaty stipulation to Spain in 1762. 

The Government and people of the L^nited States, who, in 1783, 
came into possession of that part of the original Louisiana ceded by 
France to Great Britain, had no reason to question the validity of 
the cession of 1763 by France, since Spain had indorsed it and approved 
it. James Madison, Secretary of State, in a letter .to Robert Liv- 
ingston, minister to France, of date March 31, 1803,^ says of this 
cession: 

Spain might not unfairly be considered as ceding back to France what France had 
ceded to her, inasmuch as the cession of it to Great Britain was made for the benefit of 
Spain, to whom, on that account, Cuba was restored. The effect was precisely the 
same as if France had, in form, made the cession to Spain and Spain had assigned it 
over to Great Britain; and the cession may the more aptly be considered as passing 
through Spain, as Spain herself was a party to the treaty by which it was conveyed to 
Great Britain. 

Spain obtained title from France to "the whole of Louisiana" in 
1762, and was therefore in position to cede the Gulf coast to Great 
Britain in 1763. There was nothing peculiar in the retrocession of 
this tract by Great Britain to Spain in 1783; no tiling apparent to 
justify the contention of Spain, following the retrocession to France 
in 1800 of "the colony or province of Louisiana with the same extent 
it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France pos- 
sessed it," that this territory belonged to and formed a part of her 
original possessions in Florida. 

By secret treaty, known as the "Treaty of San Bdefonso," of 
October 1, 1800, Spain retroceded to France "the colony or province 
of Louisiana ^viih. the same extent it now has in the hands of Spain, 
and that it had when France possessed it, and such as it should be 
after the treaty subsequently entered into between Spain and the 
other states." By this treaty France again came into possession, so 
far as Spanish interests were concerned, of the original territory of 
Louisiana; but the same was, of course, shorn of the large area east 
of the Mssissippi River and north of latitude 31°, which for 17 years 
past had been a part of the United States. This retroceded Louisiana 
undoubtedly embraced that portion of the original territory which 
lies south of latitude 31° and east of the Mississippi River, whatever 
may have been its extent. The wording of the treaty of San Bde- 
fonso precludes any other view than that of retrocession, and the 
United States so held and undei-stood it, as shown by acts of sover- 
eignty hereinafter noted. 

Vol. 2 of American State Papers, Foreign Relations, p. 577. 



10 LOUISIANA PURCHASE PEOGEESS MAPS. 

TERRITORY OF LOUISIANA, 1803-1819 (MAP No. 4.) 

Map No. 4 shows tlie area of the territory of Louisiana as purchased 
from France in 1803. It mil be noted that no change in the boundary 
of that part west of Mississippi River has occurred since 1762, but 
that the area of the tract along the Gulf coast east of the river is 
materially reduced. 

April 30, 1803, France ceded to the United States the territory of 
Louisiana "with the same extent that it now has in the hands of 
Spain, and that it had when France possessed it, and such as it 
should be after the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain 
and other States," using the identical language employed in the 
cession to France by Spain in 1800, but adding: "The French 
Republic has an incontestible title to the domain and to the posses- 
sion of said territory." The confinement of American claims, under 
the treaty of 1803, to the area west of the Perdido River was doubt- 
less due to the fact of early Spanish settlement at Pensacola Bay and 
at Fort St. Marks, on the Appalachee River, and to the common mis- 
understanding of the real rights of the United States to all of the 
territory south of latitude 31°, which formed a part of the original 
Louisiana proclaimed by La Salle. The first settlements in this 
territory were made by French colonists in 1699, but 17 years after 
La Salle's proclamation, and there can be no shadow of doubt that 
these settlements were made for the purpose of occupying and exploit- 
ing the vast domain added to France under the name "Louisiana" 
through the courage and energy of the great explorer. The real 
meaning and significance of La Salle's claim to the eastern Gulf 
coast as far as Palm River seems fco have been overlooked, but this 
can not be said of that portion between the Perdido River and the 
Mississippi River. While Spanish diplomacy was undoubtedly aimed 
at.retahiing this territory at the time of the retrocession to France, 
in 1800, notwithstanding the unequivocal wording of the treaty of 
San Ildefonso to the contrary, the Goverimient of the United States 
refused to accept any such boundary delimitation in 1803. 

February 24, 1804, Congress passed an act for laying and collecting 
duties in tliis territory, and on March 26 the district was added to the 
new Territory of Orleans. In October, 1810, the President, by procla- 
mation, directed the governor of Orleans Territory to take possession 
of the territory. April 14, 1812, a part of these lands was annexed to 
Louisiana territory, and one month later the remainder, lying 
between the Pearl and Perdido Rivers, was annexed to the territory 
of Mssissippi. March 3, 1817, Congress divided tliis tract, giving 
approximately- half of it to the Territory of Alabama. Both Missis- 
sippi and Alabama came into the Union before the treaty with Spain 
for Florida was ratified, Mssissippi the year before the treaty was 
negotiated and Alabama the same year, but two years before ratifica- 



LOUISIANA PURCHASE PROGRESS MAPS. 11 

tion. During this period, also, the United States made a census of the 
population of the district. These citations are offered for the pur- 
pose of showing that this Government, in its sovereign capacity and 
through both its lawmaking and executive branches, had settled and 
finally disposed of all questions of ownership of the territory between 
the ^Mississippi and Perdido Rivers and south of latitude 31° wliich 
were raised by Spain after the purchase from France in 1803, and prior 
to the Florida treaty of 1819. The fact that the United States 
Supreme Court in many cases has supported the pohtical acts of the 
Government relating to this territory is of passing interest. These 
decisions, however, can have no direct bearing upon questions of 
title affecting the territory in the aggregate. 

TERRITORY OF LOUISIANA, 1819-1904 (MAP NO. 5). 

Map No. 5 shows the extent of the "Louisiana Purchase" after its 
boundaries of 1803 had been modified through the treaty with Spain 
ceding Florida to the United States and fixing the boundary between 
the United States and Spanish possessions west of the jMississippi 
River in 1819. It is of interest because the American gains and losses 
by that treaty are shown and because Spain was satisfied to fix her 
most northern boundary west of the Rocky Mountains at the parallel 
of 42° north. This western United States-Spanish boundary as 
finalh' settled was later accepted as the boundary between the 
Republic of Mexico and the United States, and still later in part as 
the northern boundary of the Republic of Texas. It will be noted 
that two small tracts, marked "A," not forming a part of La Salle's 
Louisiana, became a part of the United States, and that two tracts, 
marked "B," of much larger area shown upon the map, which are a 
part of the IMississippi watershed and were therefore a part of La Salle's 
Louisiana, were surrendered to Spain in exchange. 

SUMMARY. 

1. French title to the territory called "Louisiana" in the ^Mississippi 
Valley had its origin and was based upon the discovery and proclama- 
tion of La Salle, April 9, 1682. The title "Louisiana," as proclaimed 
by La Salle, may not properly be applied to other and doubtful French 
possessions in America, and since French ownership of territory 
beyond the watershed line at the time of the purchase is a matter of 
grave doubt and can not be established. La Salle's "Louisiana" may 
not properly include such alleged possessions. The Spanish territory 
directly drained into the Gulf of Mexico west of the ^lississippi River, 
or into the Gulf of California, or the Spanish and Oregon territory 
drained into the Pacific Ocean, or the territory drained into Hudson 
Bay, never belonged to France by' virtue of La Salle's discovery and 
pj^oclama tion of 1682, when the limits of Louisiana were defined and 



12 LOUISIANA PURCHASE PROGEESS MAPS. 

title to these districts was neither offered nor transferred by France 
to the United States in the sale of 1803. 

2. French title to Gulf territory from the Mssissippi River to Paim 
River, on the Gulf coast of Florida, as a part of original Louisiana, 
was as good as French title to the Mississippi Valley, for both districts 
came under the French flag at the same time and for the same reason, 
viz, the discoveries of La Salle and his proclamation based thereon, at 
the mouth of the Mississippi River, April 9, 1682. It therefore 
follows that subsequent cessions of "the whole territory known under 
the name of Louisiana," or of "the colony or province of Louisiana, 
with the same extent * * * i^j^^^ j^ j^^d when France possessed 
it," conveyed title to this territory just as surely as they conveyed 
title to territory drained by the Mississippi River and its tributaries, 
and the title thus conveyed was just as good. 

3. The Government of the L^nited States acted strictly witliin its 
treaty rights when, following the purchase of Louisiana from France 
in 1803, it occupied the territory between the ^Mississippi and Perdido 
Rivers, took a census of the people, leaded and collected taxes, and 
finally, prior to the ratification of the purchase of Florida, divided 
the tract into three separate parcels and added one each to the States 
of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Map No. 4, therefore, prop- 
erly exliibits the outboundaries of the Louisiana purchased from 
France in 1803, and asserted by the LTnited States thereafter, and 
Map No. 5 shows the modifications of that boundary west of the 
Mississippi River agreed to in the treaty with Spain in 1819. 

OTHER CONTIGUOUS ACQUISITIONS (MAP NO. 6). 

Map No. 6 shows in addition to the Louisiana Purchase boundaries 
the boundaries of the Texas annexation of 1845, the Oregon Territory, 
title to which was settled in 1846, the Mexican cession of 1848, and the 
Gadsden Purchase of 1853. The Department of the Interior and the 
Department of Commerce and Labor, by letters of February 2, 1912, 
and February 10, 1912, respectively, formally accepted these bounda- 
ries and the areas thereby determined for use in all pubhcations of 
the several bureaus of each department.^ The north and east 
boundaries of the Texas territory are identical with those of the Texas 
Republic which conformed to the compromise boundary between 
Spain and the United States, estabhshed by treaty of 1819. The 
west boundary of the Texas annexation conforms to the former west- 

1 A committee representing the Department of the Interior, consisting of Messrs. Frank Bond, Chief Clerk 
of the General Land Office, and S. S. Gannett, geographer of the Geological Survey, was appointed by the 
Secretary of the Interior, Jan. 9, 1911; and a committee, representing the Department of Commerce and 
Labor, consisting of Messrs. O. P. Austin, Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, and C. S. Sloane, geographer 
of the Bureau of the Census, was appointed by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, Jan. 13. 1911. These 
committees were instracted to mutually confer and definitely and finally decide as to the boundaries and 
areas of the several acquisitions and of the States created therefrom. Their joint report was signed Jan. 26, 
1912, and the same was approved by the heads of the respective departments, as noted above. 



LOUISIANA PURCHASE PEOGRESS MAPS. 



13 



ern boundary of the Texas Republic. The common boundary along 
the forty-second parallel, between the Mexican cession and the 
Oregon territory, is the line also fixed by the treaty with. Spam of 1819. 
The eastern boundary of the Oregon territory conforms to the western 
boundary of the Louisiana of La Salle and the Louisiana Purchase of 
1803, the same being the watershed between the Mississippi River 
drainage and the drainage toward the Pacific Ocean. 

Area of the territory of the original 13 States and of the successive acquisitions tvithin the 
continental limits, excepting Alaska and Panama Canal Zone. 



Acquisitions. 



Area of 

original 

acquisition. 



Net area after 

Louisiana 

delimitation, 

and net area 

of United 

States. 



Territory of original 13 States as recognized by Great Britain in 1783, includ- 
ing the drainage basin of the Red River of the North (46,253 square miles).. 

Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803 

This acquisition suffered loss in area amounting to 96,292 square miles 
by Spanish-American boundary delimitation of 1819. 

Territory gained through treaty of 1819 with Spain 

Florida ceded by Spam in 1819 

Texas, annexed in 1845, includes 94,815 square miles of original Louisiana 
excluded from Louisiana Purchase by treaty of 1819 witli Spain 

Oregon Territory, American title established in 1846 

Mexico, ceded in 1848, includes 1,477 square miles of original Louisiana ex- 
cluded from Louisiana Purchase by treaty of 1819 with Spain 

Gadsden Purchase, in 1853 

Total 



Square miles. 
892, 135 
924,279 



13, 435 

58, 666 



389.166 
286,541 



529, 189 
29,670 



Square miles. 
892, 135 
827,987 



13,435 
58,666 



389, 166 
286,541 



529, 189 
29,670 



3,123,081 



3,026,789 



NONCONTIGUOUS ACQUISITIONS (MAP NO. 7). 

Map No. 7 shows the geodetic location and approximate configura- 
tion of the noncontiguous acquisitions of the United States, of which, 
only Alaska and and the Panama Canal Zone are situated upon the 
continent, properly speaking, Hawaii, Porto Rico, the Philippines, 
Guam, and Samoa being islands of the sea. Of these acquisitions, 
Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867, the location of the LTnited 
States-Canadian boundary thereof being finally fixed by treaty pro- 
claimed March 3, 1903. The Philippine Islands, Guam, and Porto 
Rico were acquired as indemnity and by partial purchase from Spain 
in 1898; the Hawaiian Islands were annexed in 1898, and the Tutuila 
group was acquired in 1899. The Panama Canal Zone was ceded by 
the Republic of Panama in 1904. 

Areas of noncontiguous acquisitions. 

Square miles, 

Alaska 590, 884 

Guam 210 

Hawaii, including Palmyra Island 6, 449 

Panama Canal Zone 436 

Philippine Islands 115, 026 

Porto Rico 3, 435 

Tutuila group, Samoa 77 

Total 716, 517 



14 



LOUISIANA PURCHASE PROGRESS MAPS. 



Grand total area of United States, including all acquisitions, 
3,743,306 square miles, or 2,395,715,840 acres. 

Area of States and District of Columbia. 

[These areas have previously been used by the Departments of the Interior and Commerce and Labor 
and their several bureaus, being based upon careful joint calculations made in the General Land Office, 
the Geological Survey, and the Bureau of the Census.] 



States and District of 
Columbia. 



Land surface. 



Water surface. 



Total areas. 



Alabama 

Arizona 

Arkansas *. . 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

District of Columbia. 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky , 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire 

New Jersey 

New Mexico 

New York 

North Carolina 

North Dakota 

Ohio 

Oklahoma 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode Island 

South Carolina 

South Dakota 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Washington 

West Virginia 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 



Total 2, 973, 890 



Sq. m. 
51,279 

113,810 
62,525 

155,652 

103,658 

4,820 

1,965 

60 

54,861 

58,725 

83,354 

56,043 

36,045 

55,586 

81, 774 

40, 181 

45,409 

29,895 

9,941 

8,039 

57,480 

80,858 

46,362 

68, 727 

146, 201 
76,808 

109, 821 
9,031 
7,514 

122,503 
47,654 
48, 740 
70,183 
40,740 
69,414 
95,607 
44,832 
1,067 
30,495 
76,868 
41,687 

262,398 
82, 184 
9,124 
40,262 
66,836 
24,022 
55,256 
97,594 



Acres. 
32,818,560 
72,838,400 
33,616,000 
99,617,280 
66,341,120 
3,084,800 
1,257,600 
38,400 
35,111,040 
37,584,000 
63,346,560 
35,867,520 
23,068,800 
35,575,040 
62,335,360 
25,715,840 
29,061,760 
19,132,800 
6,302,240 
5,144,960 
36,787,200 
51,749,120 
29,671,680 
43,985,280 
93,568,640 
49, 157, 120 
70,285,440 
5,779,840 
4,808,960 
78,401,920 
30,498,560 
31,193,600 
44,917,120 
26,073,600 
44,424,960 
61,188,480 
28, 692, 480 
682,880 
19,516,800 
49,195,520 
26,679,680 
167,934,720 
52,597,760 
5,8.39,360 
25,767,680 
42,775,040 
15,374,080 
3.5,303,840 
62, 460, 160 



1,903,289,600 



52,899 



Sq. m. 


Acres. 


719 


460, 100 


140 


93, 440 


810 


518,400 


2,645 


1,692,800 


290 


185,600 


145 


92,800 


405 


259,200 


10 


6,400 


3,805 


2,435,200 


540 


345, 600 


534 


.341,760 


622 


398,080 


309 


197, 760 


561 


359,040 


384 


245, 700 


417 


266,880 


3,097 


1,982,080 


3,145 


2,012,800 


2,386 


1,527,040 


227 


145,280 


500 


320,000 


3,824 


2, 447, 360 


503 


321,920 


693 


443,520 


796 


509,440 


712 


455,680 


869 


556, 160 


310 


198, 400 


710 


454, 400 


131 


83,840 


1,550 


992,000 


3,686 


2,359,040 


654 


418, 560 


300 


192,000 


643 


411,520 


1,092 


698,880 


294 


188, 160 


181 


115,840 


494 


316, 160 


747 


478,080 


335 


214,400 


3,498 


2,238,720 


2,806 


1,795,840 


440 


281,600 


2,365 


1,513,600 


2,291 


1,466,240 


148 


94, 720 


810 


518,400 


320 


204,800 



Sq. m. 

51,998 

113,956 

53,335 

158,297 

103,948 

4,965 

2,370 

70 

58,666 

59,265 

83,888 

56,665 

36,354 

56, 147 

82,158 

40,598 

48, 506 

33,040 

12, 327 

8,266 

57, 980 

84, 682 

46,865 

69, 420 

146,997 

77, 520 

110,690 

9,341 

8,224 

122, 634 

49, 204 

52,426 

70,837 

41,040 

70,057 

96,699 

45. 126 
1,248 

30,989 
77, 615 
42,022 
265,896 
84,990 
9,564 
42,627 

69. 127 
24, 170 
56,066 
97,914 



33,855,360 



3,026,789 



Acres. 

33,278,720 

72,931,840 

34,134,400 

101,310,080 

66,526,720 

3,177,600 

1,516,800 

44,800 

37,516,240 

37,929,600 

53,688,320 

36,265,600 

23,266,560 

35,934,080 

52,581,120 

25,982,720 

31,043,840 

21,145,600 

7,889,280 

5,290,240 

37,107,200 

54,196,480 

29,993,600 

44,428,800 

94,078,080 

49,612,800 

70,841,600 

5,978,240 

5,263,360 

78,485,760 

31,490,560 

33, 552, 640 

45,335,680 

26,265,600 

44,836,480 

61,887,360 

28,880,640 

798,720 

19,8.32,960 

49,673,600 

26,894,080 

170,173,440 

54,393,600 

6,120,960 

27,281,280 

44,241,280 

15,468,800 

35,882,240 

62,664,960 



1,937,144,960 



Owing to their location adjoining the Great Lakes, the States enumerated below contain approximately 
an additional number of square miles as follows: Illinois, 1,674 square miles of Lake Michigan; Indiana, 
230 square miles of Lake Michigan; Michigan, 16,65:5 square miles of Lake Superior, 12,922 square miles 
of Lake Michigan, 9,925 square miles of Lake Huron, and 460 square miles of Lakes St. Clair and Erie; 
Minnesota, 2,514 square miles of Lake Superior; New York, 3,140 square miles of Lakes Ontario and Erie; 
Ohio, 3,443 square miles of Lake Erie; Pennsylvania, 891 square miles of Lake Erie; Wisconsin, 2,378 
square miles of Lake Superior and 7,500 square miles of Lake Michigan. 

In addition to the water areas noted above, California claims jurisdiction over all Pacific waters lymg 
within 3 English miles of her coast; Oregon claims jurisdiction over a similar strip of the Pacific Ocean 
I marine league in width between latitude 42° north and the mouth of the Columbia River; and Texas 
claims jurisdiction over a strip of Gulf water 3 leagues in width, adjacent to her coast and between the 
Rio Grande and the Sabine River. 



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